


Buzzing You In(to My Life)

by burymeinsurprise



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Apartment AU, M/M, Meet-Cute, and bucky has a cat named Dum Dum, steve is an old man at heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 18:03:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7278274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burymeinsurprise/pseuds/burymeinsurprise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve yells at one of his neighbors over the intercom and tries not to feel like a crazy person. To be fair, the guy's an asshole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Buzzing You In(to My Life)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Isabel (belwrites) for editing and to Claire (mambo) for never shutting up about how I should write fic.

 

The first time it happens, Steve recognizes that he hasn’t been a real adult long enough to know how to deal with this.  The buzzer rings in his apartment at approximately 9:52 p.m. on a Saturday. Steve is confused because no one comes to his apartment -- Sam lives in Staten Island of all places, and Nat says his apartment is “so boring it makes her want to cry,” and she refuses to come over until he lets her come to help decorate. So far, Steve thinks he’s doing a pretty good job of holding out on her.

“Hello? Anyone there?” a voice says from the speaker in the wall.

Steve rushes and hits the button, before realizing he has no idea what to say. “Uh...hi?”

“Oh hey good, you’re home,” the voice sounds relieved. “Everybody else is out on Saturday night.”

Steve thinks he should probably be offended by that, but the idea of being offended by a phantom voice in the wall is too ridiculous to comprehend right now. “Can I help you?” he says.

“Oh yeah,” the guy says as if just remembering. “Could you buzz me in? I forgot my front door key today and I can’t get in.”

“Is that allowed?”

“What?”

“Am I allowed to do that?” Steve asks, “Isn’t there some kind of rule against it?”

The voice laughs, “Is there some kind of rule against it? What are you, five?”

“No!” says Steve, weirdly defensive. “I just moved here, I don’t want any trouble.”

“Jeez man, I can buzz someone else if you’re that hung up about it,” the guy says.

Steve suddenly has a sinking pit in his stomach, and realizes he’s being an idiot. “No wait! I’ll buzz you in, I’m sorry,” he says.

“Okay thanks dude. I live in 4C if you ever want to drop by ease your conscience and see that I really live here.”

“Uh yeah anytime,” Steve says,  and he’s not sure if that’s a legitimate offer or not, to come to the man’s place, but why is he thinking of accepting?  So instead, he hits the buzzer to let the man in before he says something else stupid.

He goes to sit down and decides to text Nat.

STEVE: I just let a strange man in my building.

NAT: Rogers is this ur way of trying to talk about ur sex life?

 

***

The thing is, it keeps happening. A week later, Steve in letting Bucky Barnes into the building almost daily. In fact, he’s been letting Bucky into the building often enough to know his name, and really, what kind of name is Bucky? He figures the man, who he has still not seen, has to be screwing with him one way or another.

The eighth day in a row it happens, Steve snaps. The buzzer goes off sometime in the late evening as Steve is getting ready for bed.

“Hey it’s Bucky, could you let me in?” Bucky says, as he has for the past seven days.

Steve stalks over to the buzzer and jams at it angrily. “What the hell happened to your key anyway?”

“I lost it,” Bucky says, and Steve can almost hear him nonchalantly shrugging which makes him even more angry.

“So what, do you expect me to just buzz you in whenever you want? I’m not your goddamn butler,” Steve says.

“No, no, I know!” Bucky’s voice crackles through the speaker, “It was just until I get my paycheck and can afford a replacement. I didn’t mean to bother you, it’s just you’re always home.”

Which only makes Steve angrier, he’s not _always_ home and he doesn’t need some asshole who doesn’t even have a key telling him how to live his life. “I have a life outside of answering the door for you Bucky.”

“I’m sure you do,” he says, and Steve can’t tell if he’s trying to be sarcastic or not. “Look, I’ll buzz someone else from now on okay?”

“You do that,” Steve says, and hits the button to let Bucky in.

His tiny apartment is quiet once more, and as Steve goes back to getting ready for bed, he can’t help but feel like he’s made a mistake.

He voices this worry to Nat the next day when they meet for coffee, and she turns out to be not helpful at all, which he should have expected.

“Oh my god Rogers, you have a crush on a disembodied voice,” Nat says.

“What? No I don’t!” Steve says a little too loudly, and the few people in the coffee shop turn their heads to glare at him.

“Do you even know what he looks like?” Nat asks.

“No, but it doesn’t matter because I told him to stop buzzing me,” Steve says, fiddling with a paper napkin.

“Yeah but you regret telling him to fuck off,” Nat presses.

“I didn’t tell him to fuck off, I told him I had a life outside of him and he told me he would stop buzzing.”

“But you do regret it?” Nat asks.

Steve sighs. “I don’t know. I feel weird, maybe I’m just worried that he won’t be able to get home now, and he’ll be stuck in the cold all night.”

Nat stares at him, in complete and utter disbelief. “You do realize it’s August, right?”

 

***

That Saturday, Steve has a exhibition opening for the Maria Stark Foundation which accepted a few of his pieces for their new gallery a month or so back. It’s a huge honor and Steve is incredibly excited that his art is getting recognized. He tries to stamp down the thought that he’s proving Bucky wrong about always being home, but it seems to linger, even when he gets to the gallery.

“Steve Rogers! Man of the hour!” Steve turns to see Sam grinning at him, dressed up in a suit for the occasion.

“There are like ten other artists featured in this exhibit, Sam,” he says, giving his friend a hug.  

“Yeah but we both know I don’t really care about any of the others,” Sam shrugs. “You know I don’t get that art stuff.”

Steve rolls his eyes, it’s a standard argument between the two of them, “There’s nothing you have to ‘get,’ Sam,”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go inside, I want to show you this painting, I swear it looks like a pair of boobs, but Nat doesn’t believe me.”

Steve lets himself get dragged through a crowd of important people in cocktail dresses and suits so Sam can show him a painting, which Steve has to grudgingly admit, looks a lot like boobs.

“Men,” Nat scoffs when she tells him.

Steve wants to argue with her, but before he can open his mouth he’s being tapped on the shoulder by Pepper Potts. “Steve it’s so great to see you!”

“It’s great to see you too, Miss Potts,” Steve says politely, giving her a brief hug. After Steve’s pieces were accepted, he’d gone to what felt like dozens of meetings with Pepper Potts. She was quick, efficient, passionate, and Steve found he didn’t mind going to meetings with her at all.

“I have received so many compliments tonight on the portrait of your mother, it’s absolutely stunning, Steve.” she says.

Steve ducks his head, “Thank you,” he says. It’s still hard to talk about his mom, even after five years.

“Also, I wanted to introduce you to my assistant, James,” she says gesturing to the person standing to her left.

Steve looks at him and briefly wonders how Pepper managed to get the world’s most attractive looking man to be her assistant. He was about Steve’s height with long dark hair pulled stylishly into a bun. His suit was cut in a way that you could see all the defined muscles he was hiding underneath. Steve’s mouth felt very dry.

James held out his hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Steve, I’ve heard great things about you.”

Steve’s jaw drops. “Bucky?” he says, staring at the man.

“Who the hell is Bucky?” asks Sam.

“Holy shit,” Bucky says, his eyes widening.

Nat is standing behind him, but Steve deliberately does not look at her because God knows what face she’s making at him right now.

“Is there a problem?” Pepper asks.

“No, no problem,” Steve says quickly. “It’s just, um, James and I live in the same building, excuse us for a moment.” He grabs Bucky by the arm and drags him to the other corner of the room. Bucky is smirking at him.

“I knew your name wasn’t really Bucky, you asshole,” Steve says.

Bucky (James?) laughs. “No, Bucky is my nickname, all my friends call me Bucky, only Pepper and people at work call me James. Also can you imagine coming to one of these things and telling some rich guy in a tux your name is Bucky? Would not go over well.”

“Oh,” says Steve.

“I have to admit, I thought you would be an eighty-year-old man with a bathrobe covered in oatmeal, not some artsy, blond Adonis.” Bucky says, looking him up and down.

“What?” Steve splutters, “Why would you think I was an old man?”

“Dude you’re literally always at home, especially on weekends, and you literally yelled at me and told me to stop ringing your doorbell like I was a kid playing ding dong ditch,” Bucky says, sounding more amused than anything.

“Fuck you, I don’t need you commenting on my social life,” Steve says. “And I’m out tonight aren’t I?”

Bucky raises his eyebrows. “Yeah I guess you are.”

They don’t say anything for a moment, but Bucky continues to stare at Steve like he’s trying to figure him out. It’s a little uncomfortable.

“So is there a reason you dragged me over here away from my boss or…?”

“Oh, um,” Steve says, because he doesn’t really have an answer and there is literally no guide on earth on how to proceed a conversation with a neighbor you cursed at over an intercom. “I guess I was just wondering if you’re okay, like have you been able to get in the building and stuff? You haven’t been outside and y’know...cold?”

Bucky smiles at him like he’s trying to suppress a laugh. “Yeah Stevie, I’ve been fine.”

Steve doesn’t know why, but his heart betrays him and lurches a little at the nickname. “That’s good,” he says.

“Listen let me buy you a drink,” Bucky says, nodding his head towards the bar. “Y’know as a thank you for opening the door for me all week.”

Steve looks at him in disbelief. “You’re an asshole.”

“What, why?”

“Bucky, I know it’s an open bar.”

“Well, okay, so maybe I knew that too, but I’m broke cut me some slack,” Bucky says. “Besides, I’ll bring you your drinks all night like a personal servant, how does that sound?”

Steve rolls his eyes, “Fine, go get me a gin and tonic.”

“Oh my god, you even drink like an old man,” Bucky says, and goes to the bar to get their drinks.

The moment Bucky disappears Nat seems to materialize by his side. “So Sam and I have a bet that you’re going to fuck James in the coatroom before the end of the night.”

“Oh really?” Steve says, “What side did Sam take?”

“He says you’ll wait until you get home and do it in a bed because you’re a traditionalist.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Steve says. “Where did he go anyway?”

“He went home because you disappeared and he doesn’t like art,” Nat says dismissively, “Don’t try to change the subject, is that really your doorbell neighbor?” Nat asks.

“Yeah that’s Bucky,” Steve says.

“He’s a beefcake.”

“Nat!” Steve feels his face heat up and knows he’s turning red.

“What? He is and you know it. Besides he can’t hear me. He’s still getting you a drink, and that bar is swamped with drunk rich people so he must like you to wait through that.”

“It’s just a thank you,” Steve says. “Y’know, for the door stuff.”

“Sure it is,” Nat says. “Just make sure to give me a heads up on who’s gonna win the bet, I don’t want to lose all my money to Sam.”

“What if we don’t have sex?” Steve asks.

“Then you’re an idiot,” Nat says simply.

 

***

Bucky shows up five minutes later with their drinks looking slightly frazzled. Nat has already disappeared to God knows where, but Steve is pretty used to her doing that.  “It’s like these people have never seen free alcohol before, and I know they’re all rich, so it shouldn’t even matter to them,” Bucky says, handing Steve his drink. “One old man special.”

“A gin and tonic is a perfectly acceptable drink for anyone, besides, I’m pretty sure we’re the same age,” Steve says.

“Is that you subtly trying to ask how old I am?” Bucky says, taking a sip of what appears to be a rum and coke.

“No,” Steve says defensively.

“So you don’t want to know how old I am?”

“Fine, Bucky, how old are you?” he asks.

“Twenty-seven.”

“Ha!” Steve says, “I’m twenty-six.”

“Age is just a number, Stevie,” Bucky shrugs, and there it is again, that nickname. They barely know each other, why is Bucky calling him by a nickname? Steve takes a sip of his drink.

“Is this a double?” Steve asks, making a face at the bitterness.

“Uh, actually it’s a triple,” Bucky says.

“Aren’t you supposed to tell someone when you’re trying to get them drunk?” Steve says.

“Hey,” Bucky says. “It’s an open bar and I figured we should take advantage of it.”

“Oh my god you’re no better than the drunk rich people,” Steve teases.

“Hey you should know better than anyone how much these openings suck,” Bucky says. “If I have one more old man come up to me and say ‘wish my wife had those knockers eh?’ I’m gonna scream.”

Steve laughs. “See I have old the old women coming up to me asking me to explain it to them.”

“What do you tell them?”

“I think I said it represents the poignancy of life or something like that,” Steve says, and this time Bucky throws back and gives a full bodied laugh.

So Bucky isn’t a total asshole, and he’s actually kind of fun to talk to, and Steve is having a better time with him than he usually does by himself just awkwardly mingling with people he doesn’t know. So Nat is probably right, and he does have a crush on his doorbell neighbor.

“Y’know it’s been two hours, we could probably slip out now,” Bucky says about a half hour later. His breath smells like alcohol and lime. Steve finds it weirdly attractive, but he’s also fairly drunk at this point.

“Don’t you have to stick around for Pepper?” Steve asks.

“Nah, she’ll be fine,” Bucky says, “she doesn’t need me right now.”

They stumble together out of the gallery, bumping into people as they go. It’s not a long walk back to the apartment, but under the influence two triple gin and tonics, it feels like forever.

“So are you gonna let me into the building or do I have to buzz Mrs. Goldstein at this ungodly hour?”

Steve shoves him. “Yeah I’ll let you into the building, jerk.”

“You know I didn’t actually lose my key,” Bucky says suddenly.

“What d’ya mean?” Steve asks.

“My cat ate it,” he says. “Which sounds fucking hilarious except it’s really dangerous and he almost died. The surgery cost a fucking fortune, and would you believe they gave me back the key? But since it’s one of those scan thingies, believe it or not it doesn’t work after going through a cat’s intestines.”

“I’m sorry, Buck,” Steve says.

“It’s okay, Dum Dum is fine, and I’ll get a new key sooner or later.”

“Your cat’s name is Dum Dum?”

“Really?” Bucky says, “I tell you my cat almost died and you ask why his name is Dum Dum? You’re such a punk.”

“To be fair, it’s a really stupid name,” Steve says.

“Well, he’s a really stupid cat, he ate my fucking keys.”

They get to the apartment building and Steve lets them both in, holding the door open for Bucky.

“Guess you are my butler after all.”

Steve rolls his eyes, not rising to the bait. “Do you want to come to my apartment for a little?”

“Are you propositioning me, Rogers?” Bucky tilts his head raising his eyebrows.

“No!” Steve says, blushing. “It’s just...we’re both drunk and I live on the first floor, so y’know, you wouldn’t have to go up all those stairs after drinking all those mojito things.”

“I’m a big boy, Steve, I can handle some stairs,” Bucky says.

Steve tries not to let his face fall. “Yeah I know, that’s okay,”

“I mean I’m still gonna come over and eat all your food, I just need you to understand I can handle my liquor,” Bucky says, pushing past Steve towards the first floor apartments.

“Sure Buck,” Steve says with a smile.

 

***

In the end, they sit on Steve’s couch and watch Chopped while eating potato chips. Bucky is wearing Steve’s sweatpants, not wanting to wear his suit anymore, and Steve feels like he’s going to internally combust. This feeling is only intensified when Bucky goes to lick the salt from the potato chips off his fingers.

“What, do I got something on my face?” Bucky asks with a smirk.

“Uh, no,” Steve says.

“Then why are you staring at me, Rogers?” Bucky says, his eyebrows raised, and Steve knows he’s challenging him to make a move.

“I kind of want to kiss you,” Steve says, and it’s probably only because there’s still some gin in his system that he’s able to be this brave.

“Only kind of?” Bucky says.

“Okay, I really want to kiss you,” Steve says.

“Well what are you waiting for?” Bucky says, “Show me what you’ve  got.”

 

He does.

Sam wins the bet.


End file.
